Unsupervised Feeding!

Hello All,

My daughter has had her Axolotl, Frilly, for 5 months. Recently he has been off his food (earth worms mainly) and so we thought we'd try some feeder fish.

I got home from work today to find twelve goldfish in with Frilly and most off his gills are almost completely gone!!

I've removed the fish and tried Frilly on some worms but, no luck, Frilly just turned his head away.

Is there a minimum gill requirement before it's all over or am I too late?

My daughter is only seven and is starting to panic that it might be too late.

Since joining this forum today i've learnt a great deal already but don't know if i'll be able to put this knowledge to use unless Frilly's health improves.

I've read about water test kits to check for correct levels but, don't have one as yet. I also read that gravel (that we've got) is not a great idea?

Please point me in the right direction.

Thanks in Advance,

Woz

Hi Woz and welcome to the forum. As for the test kits, yes you need to get them right away. Be sure to get the type that are NOT just the strips. You need the ones that have the test tubes. Get them to test nitrate, ph, nitrite and ammonia. Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite should read 0 and the ph should read 7.5.
As for the gravel, that needs to come out right away. The best thing to have is either children's play sand or nothing at all. Your axolotl may have swallowed the gravel and they can not pass it. if that is the case you will need to place your axie in a tub of fresh dechlorinated water, just enough to cover your axie, place a tea towel over the container and put in the frig. You will need to do a 100% water change every day while axie is in the frig. This will help pass the gravel. Don't worry if your axie doesn't eat while in frig, this is normal.
As for the missing gills, I do not believe this is a problem. Someone please chime in if I am wrong on this.

Good luck
Terri

Hey,

When I got one of my Axolotls they were in a tank with feeder fish. He had no gill thingys and that was because they nibbled on them. Luckily they are growing back, after a long time! I feed mine half a block of frozen turtle dinner. I don't think your axie will die.
All the best,

Matt

the gills will grow back, but keep an eye on them for any signs of fungus.

You are right to remove the fish, goldfish are well known for gill nipping, white cloud mountain minnows are not so bad and also tolerate low temperatures.

As Terri said, you need to remove the gravel immediately, even a bare bottom tank is better, have you noticed whether your Axie is pooing? if not then it may have an impaction problem and fridging is your best bet.

The eating/gravel/impaction issues are much more of a concern than the gills.

Thanks for all the advice thus far. I'll carry out changes right away.

As for the fridge treatment, is my fridge too cold as currently it's about 4 deg C?

Hopefully Frilly will pull through.

Woz

Hi Woz,

Of course as the axolotls breathe through their gills, losing them would be like suffocating them. However, they also breathe through their skin and, in a pinch, they have rudimentary lungs, too. As amazing as that is, axolotls have the even more impressive ability of regeneration. So if Frilly doesn't look like she is suffocating already, she will surely be fine.

There is no reason to put Frilly in the fridge at this point. If she swallows gravel and if that leads to her swelling up, you can fridge her to slow her metabolism (and hence, her appetite) while waiting for her to pass the stone. In that event, yes, your fridge would be too cold; the temp should be at least 5°C.

Please keep us posted.

-Eva

Hi All,

OK. I took some water readings and it was all bad! So I pulled Frilly out and stuck him in the Fridge, where he stayed for four days. On day 2 it looked like he was shedding skin and maybe had some kind of fungal infection so, i (very carefully) removed the loose skin and any trace of the fungus with a couple of cotton buds.

I completely emptied the tank and removed the gravel. Once clean, I refilled and added some children's play sand but even after extensive cleaning, I couldn't get the water anywhere near clear.

I completely drained and cleaned again and this time left the sand out. Carried out Nitrate, Nitrite and Ph test and the results were 0,0 and 7.2 respectively.

Frilly is now back in the tank with just some pebbles and his hide and seems to be in good spirits so, fingers crossed he should pull through. I'll try feeding Frilly tomorrow and see how we get on.

Thanks for the help so far.

Woz

Hi Woznaldo,

I note you left out the reading for Ammonia. This is the most important test to take, if you have not bought this test kit already - I strongly recommend you to do so.

Ammonia and Nitrite must read as '0' - anything higher is toxic to an axolotl. Axolotl's are happy in a PH range of 6.5 - 8, your reading of 7.2 is good. :happy:

As your Nitrate reading is '0' and you have completely changed the water in the tank I am guessing that the aquarium has not been cycled? This article explains cycling in detail http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml.

While your tank is cycling with the axolotl living in this water, you will need to do 10-20% partial water changes daily until the cycle is complete. When the Ammonia and Nitrite read at a consistant '0' and the Nitrate reads from 10 - 60 this will be an indication that the cyling is complete. When the cycle is complete, you will only need to do 10-20% partial water change once a week.

Cheers Jacq.

Hi Woznaldo,

Axolotl gills are made up of stubs and filaments. I assume you are meaning that the filaments (fluffy bits) are gone and that the stubs are still there. In which case your axie is still able to breathe using its gills.

Its best not to put fish in with axies, some breeders and keepers do with no hassles but most encounter problems like what you are experiencing.

Have a look at www.axolotl.org it has the answers to all your questions and manymore.

Good Luck